Married on the Main
When I proposed to Toria a year and a half ago, we had been talking about getting married for years. We had just skied a couloir in the Sierra and had the beautiful basin to ourselves (except for one chatty pika). We immediately knew how we wanted to get married- on a river trip!
We wanted to get married on the Main Salmon, a river that is really special to us and felt approachable for our family and friends who had never been on a river trip before. The idea of spending a week with our closest friends and family, away from the distractions of the modern world, felt perfect.
The day before the launch the crew gathered at our house. Given our friend group, there were some delays but we finally set out for Corn Creek in a caravan of cars. We snagged pizza in Salmon, rigged up the boats, and tucked into our sleeping bags.
The next day, we launched and headed down river. We found roses floating alongside us, which felt like a good omen for the wedding. The Big Bear Fire was actively burning but when we camped at Chukhar Beach almost directly across from the fire, we somehow had a fairly smoke-free evening. Competitive games of spikeball, strong margaritas and tasty fajitas set the tone for our incredible week ahead.
Day two we floated through the fire. Many people on the trip had never seen an actively burning wildfire and were enthralled. The fire was burning fairly slowly at that point, harkening back to the low intensity fires that once occurred frequently throughout the west. We held our ‘rehearsal’ at Lower Pine Bar Camp and nervously tucked into bed for the night.
We woke up on the day of the wedding and walked up to Yellow Pine Bar. Sue, knowing that we were coming, had baked delicious cakes in her solar oven. She and Greg showed people around the property. My mom’s eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the size of Sue’s cabbages (the trick is to rotate them a quarter turn every once in a while).
We floated through the rapids en route to our wedding destination, Rhett Creek. Upon arrival, the team sprung into action! Some people were in charge of setting up the ceremony site, others the banquet table, other decorations from the beach and still others on food prep. After a heated game of Kuub and some swims in the eddy, it was time to put on our river formal attire. Toria looked gorgeous in her white dress and we proceeded to the beach to eat some charcuterie and drink aperol spritzes before the ceremony.
Our dear friend, Nancy, officiated and while I knew that she would do an amazing job with it, nothing could have prepared me for how incredible it would actually be. I laughed, I cried, and I got married! After the ceremony, we toasted champagne and took our mini raft for a few laps around the eddy.
For dinner, we ate fresh pasta with a lemon morel cream sauce (harvested from the Sawtooths a few months prior). We adapted our favorite chocolate olive oil cake recipe into a dutch oven dessert and then danced the night away. One highlight of the night was everyone running into the eddy for a spontaneous group swim.
The next morning, we slowly woke up and started heading towards Buckskin Bill’s. The group dressed up as Buckskin and everyone watched the video (mandated by me- if you haven’t seen it, stop reading this blog post and get back on the river).
After camping at Warren, we started paddling for our last full day on the river. We paddled through a rainstorm but as soon as we arrived at California, the weather started to turn. Soon, it was a bright sunny day and people played in the eddy. We donned costumes and received paper plate awards.
We woke up on the last day sad for it to be over but grateful for how incredible the trip had been. For anyone thinking that they might want to get married on the river, go for it. I can’t think of a better way to marry the person you love.
Annie DeAngelo, Team Canyons
Photos by Joshua Murdock
Similar Posts by The Author:
- Off Beat Interview Series with Mike Hipsher
- The Interior Guide: How to Actually Show Up for Yourself this River Trip
- Internal Hydrology: Why You’re More Watershed Than Human
- Off Beat Interview Series with Clark
- Blogs are Reflections from a Salmon River SUP Adventure
